Anyone with a 64-bit CPU needs a 64-bit OS if they want to take full advantage of the power of their processor. I realize many people never use their system's full capacity and won't see the difference but for those of us who do things that push the CPU hard a 64-bit OS is a must.

Want to know why I don't run Vector Linux regularly anymore? It's the lack of a 64-bit release. I migrated to SalixOS. I see lots of familiar names from the VL forums have turned up in the Salix forums and I imagine this is a big part of the reason why.

I realize that 64-bit is the way of the future, but 32-bit remains the safe choice. In my sideline business, the transition to 64-bit has proven to be rather painful. A lot of (proprietary) business apps are 32-bit only. Those that are "64-bit compatible" exhibit problems not present in their 32-bit counterparts. So far, my only reason for going 64-bit is to take advantage of more than 3.2GB of RAM.

Update: Native 64-bit Flash and Firefox now do exist and are well supported.

SalixOS does not include 32-bit libraries in their 64-bit distro. They are not using compatibility mode. In general, things have advanced a lot over the last year. Even netbooks have 64-bit processors nowadays. 32-bit is rapidly becoming legacy.

Thanks! I'm taking a look at the 64-bit version, the one thing that could bring me back to VL Sadly, the company that had been my largest customer in the second half of this year just went under and a holiday weekend is not the best time to go out and drum up new business or a new job... so I have some time.